Now that Marvel have proven a superhero ensembles can be billion dollar franchises, rivals Warner Bros and DC look like they’re finally moving forward with a Justice League movie. While making a Justice League movie work is something I’ll write about a bit later on, for now I will focus on what may be Warner Bros biggest hurdle; fixing the Green Lantern franchise.

Before the original film was released, rumour has it that Warner Bros were planning on fast-tracking a sequel in order to keep actor Ryan Reynolds attached, preventing him from moving over to Marvel to film a Deadpool spin-off from the X-Men franchise. A year later, and it seems Reynolds may be out based on the critical and financial success of the last movie, meaning Warner Bros may either be planning a total reboot, or a drastically different sequel.

Rumour online is that Warner Bros may be planning on bringing in another human Green Lantern, John Stewart, adding some much needed diversity to their cinematic line-up. While I’m in full support of Warner Bros adding some diversity to their superhero films, I just don’t believe John Stewart on his own would be strong enough to carry a film critics will be waiting to scorn way before it’s even released.

If Reynolds is out, Hal Jordan should not be re-cast. It wouldn’t do Warner Bros or DC any favours. Instead, Hal Jordan should be killed off away from screen, leaving the new human recruits with big shoes to fill. We saw the total disregard from other Lanterns towards the human race in the first film, so that should not be recycled. Instead, why not have it that Hal Jordan’s sacrifice has earned the human race a huge amount of respect, leading to the Lantern’s recruiting not one, but three new humans.

John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner should be the new Green Lanterns for the next movie. All three have drastically different personalities, and a movie line-up lead by three main characters will help add gravitas to the film where the previous version lacked. Now there is a reason for humans to be among the other Lanterns. Plus with Hal Jordan’s death, it even gives room for Reynolds to film some flashback scenes if he really wanted.

Should the main villain be Sinestro? Definitely not. Mark Strong‘s portrayal as the leader of the Green Lanterns was just about the only redeeming quality to the previous movie, despite the fact that his character received a butchered attempt at giving Sinestro a side-story where he becomes a Yellow Lantern. The next movie needs to properly flesh out Sinestro’s character, enabling him to act as a villain for a third film, or perhaps even for the Justice League movie similar to what Marvel did with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. Since Parallax has already been used (terribly) that rules that out. Many fans feel the Manhunters should be the new villains, but they wouldn’t really be interesting enough on their own. While my Green Lantern knowledge is not as strong as it should be, I feel introducing Amon Sur, the son of the late Abin Sur, would be a great way to introduce a villain with a personal connection to the heroes. For those that don’t know, Amon was jealous that his father had given a power ring to a human, and became a powerful interstellar criminal as a result. He even joined the Sinestro Corps later on so that could even be used for a third film.

So there are my ideas on how to fix the Green Lantern franchise. I for one really hope DC doesn’t let the Green Lantern franchise fall into limbo. There are many great Green Lantern stories out there just waiting to become movies. If it was done correctly, Secret Origin, Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night should have been the trilogy. Despite my prediction, I hope there’s still hope for that.

Do any of you Green Lantern fans agree? How would you want Warner Bros to bring back the Lanterns? As always leave your comments below!

As I’ve mentioned before about the likes of Thor and X-Men: First Class, comic book movies have needed to drastically improve in order to survive at the box office. Throwing a special effects extravaganza at audiences just doesn’t cut it anymore. Movies need to develop interesting characters, and generate a good story before worrying about spectacular special effects. That’s where comic book movies are struggling. With so much choice now for comic book movies, the films can’t afford to be lazy. Thor told a great father-son story, First Class added some historical gravitas to a superhero story whilst Green Lantern fails on just about every level…

Terrible plot holes, bad pacing, boring characters (unlike the comic book versions) and a bland story keeps Green Lantern’s feet firmly on the ground. It’s also an example of how a generic ‘popcorn’ superhero movie just doesn’t cut it with critics and fans alike. If Green Lantern bombs, DC will probably shy away from moving forward with projects such as The Flash and Wonder Woman. This could cause serious ramifications for comic book movies because; Marvel’s on screen catalogue of comic book characters will eventually run dry. With no alternative to go to, fans will inevitably get bored of Marvel throwing every B-List character under the sun at them. The same goes for DC’s Batman and Superman franchises. They will eventually run dry and DC will have nothing left to offer.

That’s what’s most disappointing about the Green Lantern movie. There was so much riding on it, and despite having Green Lantern wiz Geoff Johns behind the scenes; the movie has killed off all momentum for DC. Yes they have The Dark Knight Rises coming next year, but considering that’s up against Marvel’s Avengers, don’t expect it to reach the heights of The Dark Knight.

If the genre is dying, every upcoming comic book movie needs to be unique. The initial awesomeness of seeing Marvel’s finest united on screen will undoubtedly hold off bad reviews, but other projects such as Spider-Man, Wolverine and Superman might not be so fortunate unless they give the characters and the story proper attention. It’s time studios take these movies seriously. From the moment the initial GL trailer hit the net and viewers were treated to a classic Ryan Reynolds ‘I KNOW RIGHT’ scene, it was clear Warner Bros weren’t treating GL seriously. And that’s why the genre is struggling. It needs more X-Men: First Class, less Van Wilder in space.

I hadGreen lantern more or less written off as soon as I saw the film’s first trailer back in November. It looked average, generic and more like Ryan Reynolds as Van Wilder in space than the intergalactic spectacle the character deserved. It seemed the trailers poor response from audiences lead to Warner Bros upping their game, and now Green lantern looks like it can definitely hold it’s own with the rest of this year’s comic book movies.

Will it be the best CBM this year? Probably not, but Green Lantern at least shows promise that now Warner Bros have learnt from their mistakes, and if the movie does well at the box office this year, I’m sure we’ll see a revolutionary sequel in the future. So why the change of heart? It’s because the film is really starting to look like the start of a whole new terrific franchise. Martin Campbell seems to be building a trilogy, with a consistent storyline overlapping over the tree films. . The first film deals with Hal‘s origin, the second (spoiler) will apparently showcase the Sinestro Corps War, arguably one of the best comic book storylines in modern times, and I’m guessing the third will either followThe Blackest Night storyline or something new entirely. Warner Bros clearly have a plan and it will be nice to have a comic book trilogy with consistency for once, without the need for retconning or continuity mishaps.

I was also very pessimistic about the film being in converted 3-D. It seems 3-D is the latest craze in Hollywood these days, but arguably not for the better. Since the incredible success of Avatar, films are now cheaply converted to 3-D which only really pays off in one or two scenes whilst audiences struggle to watch the rest of the films through tinted 3-D glasses. Some early reviews have however suggested the 3-D works fantastically in Green Lantern, which already puts it ahead of this years comic book movies such asThor and Captain America: The First Avenger in the visuals department, as Marvel Studios should stay away from cheap 3-D conversions in the future.

I was also pretty amazed at this recent footage , which shows Hal Jordan facing off against the giant fear entity Parallax. Whilst it may not matchX-Men: First Class‘s drama and emotion, it certainly packs a punch in the action department as that was one of the most impressive set pieces I’ve ever seen from a comic book movie. I now can’t wait to see what imaginative constructs Campbell and the team have come up with, as Green Lantern could potentially be the most imaginative comic book movie ever made.

It certainly won’t be the best CBM this year; Blake Lively still looks unconvincing as Hal’s love interest Carol Ferris, whilst some of the comedy moments look cringy at best. As long as Ryan Reynolds and Mark Strong are on show stealing form as Hal and Sinestro, I’m sure Green Lantern will earn enough to warrant a sequel I personally can’t wait to see.

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I'll be posting my views on all things comic related. Movies, TV, comics and toys, it's all here somewhere. More of a Marvel fan than a DC, favourite characters are Winter Soldier and Daken. Feel free to comment and give me your views on the comic book industry!
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